Head to head · Girls' names
Nova vs Willow
#46 vs #44 in 2025 · Latin vs Old English roots
Willow is a whisker ahead (#44 vs #46 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Willow is holding its place on the charts, Nova is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Willow leads 4 measures of 6; Nova leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Nova #796, Willow — — Nova higher
- 1890s: Nova #716, Willow #1338 — Nova higher
- 1900s: Nova #686, Willow #1714 — Nova higher
- 1910s: Nova #754, Willow #2167 — Nova higher
- 1920s: Nova #778, Willow #1709 — Nova higher
- 1930s: Nova #856, Willow #1746 — Nova higher
- 1940s: Nova #1400, Willow #2231 — Nova higher
- 1950s: Nova #2016, Willow #3164 — Nova higher
- 1960s: Nova #1914, Willow #3565 — Nova higher
- 1970s: Nova #1668, Willow #1964 — Nova higher
- 1980s: Nova #3064, Willow #2920 — Willow higher
- 1990s: Nova #4304, Willow #1820 — Willow higher
- 2000s: Nova #1760, Willow #520 — Willow higher
- 2010s: Nova #399, Willow #134 — Willow higher
- 2020s: Nova #37, Willow #42 — Nova higher
Nova stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Nova took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Nova | Willow |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #796 | — |
| 1890s | #716 | #1338 |
| 1900s | #686 | #1714 |
| 1910s | #754 | #2167 |
| 1920s | #778 | #1709 |
| 1930s | #856 | #1746 |
| 1940s | #1400 | #2231 |
| 1950s | #2016 | #3164 |
| 1960s | #1914 | #3565 |
| 1970s | #1668 | #1964 |
| 1980s | #3064 | #2920 |
| 1990s | #4304 | #1820 |
| 2000s | #1760 | #520 |
| 2010s | #399 | #134 |
| 2020s | #37 | #42 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Nova
- Scotland#74
- Canada#79
- England & Wales#80
Willow
- England & Wales#21
- Scotland#27
- Canada#67
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Nova
"New" (Latin); also, in astronomy, a star that suddenly brightens
Nova is the feminine form of the Latin adjective novus, "new." The star sense comes from the same word and is the reason most English speakers recognize it.
novus (Latin, "new") → nova (feminine form) → stella nova ("new star") → Nova
How it traveled
" The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe fixed it in scientific language with De nova stella, his 1573 account of the brilliant star that had appeared in Cassiopeia the previous year; later astronomers clipped stella nova down to nova, and it has meant a suddenly bright star ever since. The same adjective named Nova Scotia — New Scotland — when the Latin grant was made in 1621.
Willow
the willow tree
Straight from Old English welig, the name of the tree, cognate with Middle Dutch wilghe. The word came first; the name borrowed it.
welig (Old English) → wilwe (Middle English) → willow → Willow
How it traveled
The word traveled quietly through English on its own — welig in Old English, wilwe in Middle English, willow by the time it settled — naming the tree whose whippy shoots went into baskets, hurdles and, later, cricket bats. It came into use as a personal name in the same wave that gave English speakers Ivy, Hazel and Olive, when plant words were being lifted into the christening register.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Nova
NOH-vuh
Stress on the first syllable. In Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking households the final vowel is usually fuller: NOH-vah.
- Novie — Informal, family-level affectionate form; also spelled Novi.
- No-no — A toddler-years pet form rather than anything that follows a child to school.
- Nova — Works the other way round too: Nova serves as the everyday short form for longer names like Novalee and Novella.
Willow
WIL-oh
Said exactly like the tree, stress on the first syllable. There is no competing pronunciation in English.
- Will — The usual informal shortening; also long established on its own as a short form of William, so it reads as unisex.
- Willo — An affectionate respelling used mostly within families and in writing rather than as a legal name.
- Willa — Sometimes used as a pet form, though it is a name in its own right, historically a short form of Wilhelmina.
Who has carried each name
Nova
No documented entry for Nova yet.
Willow
Willow Smith (b. 2000) — "Whip My Hair" singer, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Nova if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsNova is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowNova is stepping back from its peak
Choose Willow if you want…
- a name on the way upup 4 places on the charts in five years
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 79% for Nova
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Nova
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on the first try by almost anyone literate in English.
- A real Latin word with a documented meaning, so the answer to "what does it mean?" is short and certain.
- Already in use in Scotland, Canada, and England & Wales, and pronounceable in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
To consider
- In Spanish, "no va" means "doesn't go" — the old joke about the Chevy Nova car. It rarely comes up in practice, but the name is strongest in Texas, California, and Florida, so it is worth knowing about in advance.
- Nearly everyone carrying this name right now is a small child, so it reads as very much of this moment. There are few adult Novas to grow up alongside, and the name will likely be date-stamped to this era.
- It appears on both boys' and girls' pages, but as one word-name traveling two ways rather than two separate names meeting. A boy named Nova will be the rarer case by a wide margin, and will do some explaining.
Willow
Strengths
- The spelling is the ordinary English word, so it rarely needs repeating and almost never gets written down wrong.
- Pronunciation is fixed by the word itself — anyone reading it aloud for the first time gets it right.
- In active use across the English-speaking world, charting in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada as well as the United States.
To consider
- Almost everyone carrying this name right now is a child. It has little adult track record yet, so it can be hard to picture on a business card.
- It belongs to a crowded field of one-word nature names, and may be grouped with them in conversation even where no other Willow is nearby.
- The weeping willow has an old association with grief in English literature — Desdemona's song, the tree over Ophelia's brook. Most people never make the link; a few will.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Nova
79%chance Nova feels dated by 2040
Nova is coming down from a big peak (#32 in 2021). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Willow
40%chance Willow feels dated by 2040
Willow sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Nova and Willow in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Nova and Willow?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- all guides
Every list here names both Nova and Willow — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Nova or Willow — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Nova or Willow?
- Willow, in 2025: Willow ranked #44 with 4,763 babies; Nova ranked #46 with 4,657 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Nova or Willow?
- Willow. Over the last five years Nova moved down 8 places; Willow moved up 4 places.
- Which is the older name, Nova or Willow?
- Nova entered the US charts in 1885; Willow entered the US charts in 1890. On the American record, Nova is the older name.
- How many people are named Nova and Willow?
- About 52,500 people named Nova are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 64,000 people named Willow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Novas or Willows in the classroom?
- Nova will almost certainly be the only one in school. Willow will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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